CONCORDANCE AMONG INSTRUCTORS, EXPERTS, AND STUDENTS IN RANKING COMPUTER APPLICATION CURRICULUM AND CONTENT COMPONENTS
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the structure and teaching methods of a computer applications course. The study examined the response relationships between experts in the field, instructors, and selected students when ranking a group of curriculum components and content components. Additionally, the study compared student's evaluation of key components and contents with their gains scores on a pretest/posttest analysis. The subjects of the study were comprised of three types of people-students, instructors, and experts. The students were enrolled at Purdue University in one of five sections of ED 591D, Microcomputer Applications for Educators, during the summer of 1984. Instructors were those individuals involved with the teaching of the five sections, and experts were those qualified to teach the course, but not selected to teach that semester. The data were gathered by a researcher constructed Curriculum Components Assessment (CCA) and the Minnesota Computer Literacy and Awareness Assessment (MCLAA). The CCA was given to all subjects, at the conclusion of the course. The MCLAA was used as a pre-test/posttest analysis, and given only to the students. Non-parametric statistics were used to analyze the data gathered from the CCA. The coefficient of concordance determined the degree of agreement among the rankings of the various components. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), was performed on MCLAA gains scores to determine differences in achievement for affective and cognitive domains. From these procedures, the following findings emerged from the data: (1) Students, instructors, and experts, taken as individual groups, indicated a pooled rank of concordance of curriculum components and a pooled rank of content components to determine those which are most and least effective. (2) When all three groups were considered collectively, there was concordance in ranking content components and concordance in ranking the curriculum components. (3) There were significantly higher gains in the cognitive development of the students who attended class daily when compared to those that attended class weekly.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Curricula|Teaching
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